Sunday, April 26, 2009

Another Post Chemo Post

Well, aside from decreased appetite, pins and needles in my hands and feet, shaky hands, muscle spasms and tightness in my calves, and general tiredness, I feel pretty good, considering I had poison injected into my veins 2 days ago and continue to take poison by mouth every morning and evening now. Captain Obvious was not able to go to the hospital with me since he was out of town on training, but a good friend took me instead and she was very helpful and comforting. I have gotten over my fear of IVs enough that I let the phlebotomist insert it this time and of course she messed up and had to stick me again. Now my hand is all bruised...oh well. The arm that gets the IV always seems more pins-and-needles and just more sensitive in general, so again I have that problem.

Thinking about the next week or so, right now my nausea is well controlled by Emend, but that medicine can only be taken for 3 days (don't know why, exactly) so I have to count on Zofran (which I do not like because it constipates me so badly) and Ativan (which I worry about taking when I am alone with my little one, despite having been told that it is perfectly fine). Anyhow, I guess I am going to have to be more open to taking Ativan because I have to control the nausea somehow. I am without my mother's helper during the week she usually comes because she is taking a week long driver's ed course, but it looks like Captain Obvious can come home early enough to allow me the nap I so desperately need on those days.

It is ridiculously hot outside (in the high 80s and low 90s!) and this is very disappointing because it makes it harder to go outside and do things with Captain Adorable. The heat tires us both. Of course, so far the heat has not affected me that much since I have not left the house except to blow bubbles on the deck. Sleeping is once again a chore, because our bedroom is hot, partly because all the vents are covered by our king-size bed and the little one's toddler bed. Speaking of the toddler and bed, last night he came to our bed at 3:44 and pretty much kept both parents awake with snot-driven snoring and general twitching until I finally put him back in his own bed at 5:00. Then we slept till 7:15 or so, but found that Capt. Adorable had wandered out into the hall, instead of coming to our bed as usual when he awakens in the morning. I guess we will see more and more changes like this as time goes on. If only I knew what to do about the air conditioning issue so our room were not so dang hot.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if the 'pins and needles' is the same as the neuropathy I suffered during chemo (taxol and carboplatin). It sounds like it. I took l-glutamine powder (an amino acid powder, commonly used by weightlifters and can be found at health food stores and GNC type stores). Put a heaping teaspoon in with juice in the morning. I also took a b-complex vitamin. My neuropathy is completely gone now.

My original doc had tried to prescribe me something for the neuropathy that didn't help at all, and gave me wacky side effects. The l-glutamine and b vitamins have no side effects.

You can check with your doc about this, or look on line to see if your type of chemo drug causes neuropathy which can be cumulative and debilitating.

Anonymous said...

You might want to try to find airflow vent covers. They attach to the vents and are shaped so that the air coming out of the vents is directed away from the vent opening. I know you can get them so they direct air up and also extend about 2 feet so that the air can reach an open space. http://www.improvementscatalog.com/product/id/100686.do# My father told me to just make one, but since I have trouble hanging pictures I didn't attempt it. Good luck!